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Operation: VORAUSSICHT
Details of the SPARTAN-II Program are hard to come by. As far as the UNSC civilian population is concerned, Spartans are handpicked soldiers from the UNSCDF branches who can go toe-to-toe with the Covenant and come out on top. Rumours of genetic and cybernetic augmentation circulate among the Soldiers and Marines who regard these warriors with a mixture of fear and awe, but for the most part the truth of their origins is a classified secret among the upper echelons of the Office of Naval Intelligence - kidnapped as children and trained as professional soldiers for the rest of their lives, augmented and provided with state-of-the-art MJOLNIR powered armour, the Spartans history is brutal and tragic but has produced the greatest warriors humanity, and perhaps even the Covenant, has ever seen. There are, however, mysteries that even ONI has been unable to solve. Official records state that while 150 were identified, only 75 of these were actually "recruited" into the program and trained, while of these only 33 Spartans "graduated" the augmentation process - the rest were either killed or maimed by adverse reactions to the augmentation process, were unable to cope with the program and "washed out". This has led to general confusion over just how many Spartans are actually active - some of the candidates who were injured by the augmentations may have been rehabilitated by advances made in medical knowledge and technology and improved techniques derived from the Spartan-III improvements; others seem to have simply disappeared, possibly reassigned intentionally by ONI or another intelligence branch to operate outside of Doctor Halsey's chain of command. The fact that some "official" Spartans, such as Ralph-303, are higher than the theoretical 150 limit to numerical designations, indicates that at least some of this confusion was intended from the very beginning by Halsey herself. Other developments, however, complicate this picture. Rumours of parallel programs to train and field Spartan-II grade warriors are nothing new, but that some of these programs ran concurrently with the original S-II Program is something that is troubling - the fact that even the most advanced intelligence service in the UNSC has no real idea how many surviving supersoldiers are still active, is unable to gauge their success, failures or even the theatres of operation they have engaged in, and is equally unable to evaluate the potential risk they present to the UNSC itself, or the fragile alliance of humanity with the Sangheili, is an unacceptable threat. Investigations conducted by ONI operator SHOGUN were termed Operation: VORAUSSICHT and were ordered by the then-Deputy Director of Operations, codenamed OLYNDICUS, in order to determine the extent of a potential internal cover-up of the project. Uncovering an alarming number of supersoldier development programs, such as Project: LEONIDAS, with varying degrees of success and ethical adherence, many of these were traced to a small group of powerful officials within the UNSC Army, Navy and Marine Corps, and included small research cells within ONI itself that were immediately shut down until the investigation was concluded, its members questioned or arrested, and information gathered. A timeline is difficult to set out - many of the projects may have been independently authorised and funded without knowledge of each other - and a number of key suspects managed to escape custody, quickly disappearing. Worse still, attempts were made by these elusive operatives to sabotage the investigation - viruses were released into the ONI network, deleting data indiscriminately; computers were rigged with explosive devices, killing crime scene investigators from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service at two sites, and assassins were hired to hunt down the lead members of Operation: VORAUSSICHT. Enlisting the aid of Spartan-II Indigo Team, ironically products of the early phases of Project: INDIGO, SHOGUN would proceed to hunt down and capture thirty one fugitives, killing three in self defence and unable to prevent another from committing suicide. Indigo served on these capture operations, either performing the operations themselves or serving as support for other, more public teams, and played a key role in the capture of the last fugitive, codenamed CAIN. By the end of the investigation, more than one hundred and twenty personnel were suspended for negligence, charged with conspiracy, or publically shamed by allegations of bribery and corruption. In the ensuing period, another two hundred personnel would be fired or resign willingly, with forty three people prosecuted for Project: INDIGO. The investigation revealed that the illegal project had even penetrated into Project: MJOLNIR, run by Doctor Halsey, and that technological innovations were stolen from MJOLNIR and Project: EXCALIBUR. The extent of the project was staggering - seven NOVEMBER BLACK clearance research projects had been infiltrated, their classified developments leaked to unauthorised personnel - in two cases, revolutionary improvements in slipspace navigation and railgun efficiency were sold by corrupt Naval officials to insurrectionists in exchange for a truce in the Outer Colonies, shortly before they were glassed - the former being a flagrant violation of the Cole Protocol leading the Covenant to the Dahaha colony and the deaths of thirty thousand colonists, the latter allowing the Covenant a detailed look at state-of-the-art UNSC railgun technology, factors that are estimated to have sped the fall of the Outer Colonies by two years. The fallout of VORAUSSICHT was devastating for the UNSC, resulting in a substantial drop in morale and loss of public confidence in the defence forces. Worse still was its effect on the administration of Secretary General Jerome Smithson - in the wake of what the colonial media would dub "Spartangate," seven heads of government departments were fired and replaced by vehement supporters of the investigation, resulting in strained relations between the UEG and the UNSC, and the resignation of seven generals and admirals in the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps in protest at the increase of government intervention in military investigations. The loss of military support would prove crucial in the reelection of Secretary General Pierre Plantard. Notes Prologue Opening Middle Game Details Involved Personnel Investigators * ONI Deputy Director of Operations (Codename: OLYNDICUS) * Codename: SHOGUN - operation head, later Section Chief of ONI S-ZERO * Codename: HEPHAESTUS - project head of EXCALIBUR (not to be confused with Project: HEPHAESTUS). Assigned in an advisory and liaison role. * Codename: VOLUND - project head of TEMERITY. Assigned in an advisory and liaison role. * Lieutenant Janice Forrester (Codename: RAINFALL) - deputy field operation head, former UNSC Army COIN operative, daughter of ODST Colonel Verdani Forrester * Indigo Team (SPARTAN-II Beta Five Division/Indigo Subdivision) - combat liaisons ** Chief Petty Officer Andrew-306 ** Petty Officer Second Class Jeremy-068 ** Petty Officer Second Class Laura-125 * Commander Jared-091 (Codename: ORPHEUS) - Director's personal operator, cleared for involvement. * Kukri Team (SPARTAN-III Beta Five Division/Indigo Two Subdivision) * Baselard Team (SPARTAN-III Beta Five Division/Indigo Two Subdivision) * Army Special Warfare Team LEOPARD * Codename: NOVEMBER OSCAR - interrogator * Codename: ISTARI Persons of Note Note: The following list contains unclassified personnel convicted after the events of Operation: VORAUSSICHT. Many more names remain classified to protect military assets from disclosure - and indication of just how far the infiltration had reached. Over all, forty three people were convicted and sentenced to execution or prison terms in military penal institutions, two hundred personnel resigned, and four were killed during apprehension, one self-inflicted. * Brigadier General Faraji Masamba (UNSC Army - Convicted on charges of Conspiracy and Attempting to Pervert the Course of Justice) * Colonel Behar Ylli (UNSC Marine Corps - convicted of espionage) * Ensign Bashkim Pëllumb (UNSC Navy - arrested on unrelated child sex offences, involved in the trafficking of classified material to Insurrectionists) * Lieutenant Slava Lev (UNSC Navy - convicted on charges of conspiracy) * Rear Admiral Pherick Juan (UNSC Navy - Convicted on charges of Conspiracy and Attempting to Pervert the Course of Justice) * Codename: CAIN - assumed to be the designated appointee to approve various projects, worked closely in conjunction with Codename: PUPPET MASTER * Codename: DRACULA - high-ranked member of rogue ONI organisation hoping to counter VORAUSSICHT through effective coverup, intimidation, counter-espionage and assassination. * Codename: OZYMANDIAS - former ONI Deputy Director or Operations, never apprehended by VORAUSSICHT. Suspected to have defected to Insurrectionist organisations. * Helen Calypso (Codename: VECTOR) - blackmailed into cooperation by Codename: DRACULA, later assisted in apprehending other persons of interest. * Codename: BLIGHTBLOOD - former Project ORION operative, later offered his services as a hired gun to both military and civilian employers. Employed by Codename: DRACULA, killed during investigation of Operation: ACCRETION. * Codename: MAESTRO - an independent ONI member who headed Project AEOLIA using revolutionary & experimental technology. Was later learned that he was responsible for manipulation S-057 to perform treasonous missions for him. Possible subordinate of PUPPET MASTER. * Codename: PUPPET MASTER - a high ranking ONI member whose identity remains to be disputed. From his actions, he seems to be extremely manipulative due to his elaborate infiltration and Project schemes. * Codename: INNOCENCE (UNSC Navy) - Detained for questioning due to extensive involvement with MAESTRO. However, it was later learned he manipulated for their purposes. *Codename: OEDIPUS - Aaron G. Gibson, former ONI Deputy Director and Cell Leader, never apprehended by VORAUSSICHT. Whereabouts unknown, presumed dead. * Codename: ORPHEUS (UNSC Navy) - Detained for questioning after extensive involvement with OEDIPUS and possibly DRACULA. Unknown motivations and loyalties outside of his sheer devotion to the Office itself. * Codename: VALERI - a subordinate of DRACULA, responsible for overseeing the latter's projects and contact network. * Codename: MEDICI - a subordinate of DRACULA, responsible for commanding the latter's operations, as well as managing and reviewing all personnel employed by him. Quotes * "It's appalling. You look at the military, and you're supposed to see men and women of integrity, courage and honour, and for the most part you do. And then you find out they've been dumping gene therapy agents into the drinking supply, kidnapping hobos for augmentation experiments, and picking off investigators trying to get to the bottom of it." * "I remember CAIN. He seemed like a model worker - he was the first one in and the last one out of the office, got along fine with his coworkers, and had a spotless record. I guess it's the successful and enthusiastic ones you have to watch for." * "A week after SHOGUN announced his findings to the UNSC Security Council, the colonial media were dubbing it "Spartangate." Secretary General Smithson was furious - department heads were fired, entire subsections were closed down, and Project EXCALIBUR's clearance was raised even higher until it became a treasonable offence to even access its files without authorisation. In hindsight, it's all part of his typical overreactive nature, but it didn't make him any friends in the military." * "There were rumours of OZYMANDIAS's involvement in INDIGO, but the investigation never turned anything up to support it. Of course, he had considerable control over it - and there are those who believe that the whole operation was begun just to cover up his tracks. If SHOGUN ever caught wind of it, he didn't show it."